


the playground

by orphan_account



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, absolutely shamelessly based off 18 by 1d, first work be nice, i am pathetic at summaries, i kind of ship muke, im sorry, its short buT I PROMISE ITS not thAT BAD, luke is barely mentioned, malum !!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 13:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3121904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>calum cries a lot, and michael's somehow always a part of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the playground

Calum's pretty sure he hates the boy with the sandy blonde hair telling everybody where to go and what to do. His name's Michael, everyone knows Michael in their little class of about 10 people. Calum's proud that he can count to ten. His mother tells him he's smart. Anyway, the boy Michael was telling everyone to play tag, and surprisingly, they all listened to him, which annoyed Calum to no end, so he sat alone in the sand pit, watching the minute grains of sand drain from his little fingers.

Calum looks up to see the boy coming towards him, and he cracks a small smile, tightening his grip on the sand in his hand, only for it to fall. Calum's hands feel sticky and he feels the sand sticking to his palm. His hands are sweating. The boy asks Calum to come play with the rest of the kids. Calum blinks slowly, then shakes his head no. He doesn't like to be bossed around, especially not by 6 year olds named Michael. 

Michael frowns and bends down to pick up a small handful of sand before chucking it at Calum and Calum howls in agony, the sand's gotten into his eyes. His eyes were burning, and he cries. Michael feels pity for the small asian boy, sits down beside him, and presses a small kiss to the side of his eye. It's the most he's cried in his life.

-

They're 8 years old now, and Michael's gotten considerably less bossy. So they've become friends, sitting together during the 20 minute breaks where they sometimes swing from the monkey bars. Calum's got his juice box at hand, and he sucks on the straw and squints against the hot sun, struggling to see Michael, who's calling out to him from the bars. The sun's in his eyes, he can't see, but he tells Michael that he can.

A little blonde boy, probably about Calum's age, comes along and asks Calum if he's asian. He's insulted, and throws his half empty juice box at the blonde boy. The boy falls over with a small 'oh' and bursts into tears. Michael clambers down the bars as fast as he possibly can, scraping his arm along the way. He helps the little blonde boy up, and Calum learns that his name is Luke. Michael frowns at Calum, before walking away with Luke. It's the most he's cried in his life.

-

They're 13, and Calum's got a girlfriend of sorts, they hold hands and walk around together, but that's basically it. Her name's Ariel, and Calum couldn't help but feel like she was kind of annoying, but he held hands with her anyway because that's why everyone was doing lately, and Calum just wanted to join in. 

Michael hasn't gotten a girlfriend yet, he just stays in his room most of the time and plays video games, and sometimes Calum joins him. During a sleepover, Calum lays down on Michael's bed, Michael right beside him a they stare up at the ceiling. Michael asks if Ariel's a good kisser, and Calum says he hasn't had his first kiss.

Michael tells him he hasn't either, so they stare at the ceiling a little longer before Calum asks if Michael wants to try it on him. Michael says okay.

The kiss is horrible, all clashing teeth and lips pressed together with too much pressure, and it's slobbery. But it's okay. It's Calum and Michael.

The next day, Ariel breaks up with him and tells him he's gay, and Calum's insulted. He's obviously not gay. 

He still feels terrible about it though, and it's the most he's cried in his life.

\- 

They're 16, and MichaelandCalum are MichaelandCalumandLukeandAshton. Michael's not quite sure how to feel about that, but he thinks Luke and Ashton are okay. They relentlessly send each other heart eyes and Michael's pretty pissed off at the fact that they haven't gotten into each other's pants yet. But he leaves them alone. They'll sort their own shit out in their own time, and Michael can't be bothered to care. They're a tiny band now, making noise in Michael's house, and Michael's parents have told them to shut up more times that Michael bothers to count.

But that's okay. Calum's had countless girlfriends after Ariel, and Michael's had none. His only kiss was from Calum, and he'd like to keep it that way. Michael felt his heart pound a little when he saw Calum, or when Calum did something cute. It's not like he had an existential crisis. He woke up one day and decided, "Hey, I'm gay and I think my best friend is hot." And that was that, Michael's never really been one to fret over what he was. 

Calum's staying over at Michael's tonight. Just the two of them and the morning that Calum's supposed to arrive, Michael wakes up to a damp spot in his pyjama pants and a blush on his cheeks as he remembers the dream he had, about what could happen at their sleepover. He hurriedly changes his sheets and waits for Calum to arrive. 

When Calum arrives, Michael can see the dark eye bags beneath Calum's bright brown eyes which have been dulled by sadness. They're in Michael's bedroom when Michael asks Calum what happened, and Calum tells him he found his girlfriend of four months cheating on him. Michael's not a bastard. He may love Calum but he still felt sorry for him, and gladly took Calum into his arms as they lay there, the sheets tangled between their legs. Michael hears Calum choke on his tears.

Calum's tears are soaking into Michael's shirt. It's the most he's cried in his life.

-

They're 18, and famous. Luke and Ashton have got their shit together, Michael's thankful they have so that he doesn't have to watch them pining for each other pathetically. But it makes him sad, that he'll never have that with Calum because Calum was as straight as straight could get and Michael's accepted that. He still fucks the occasional girl on the road but he's never liked the way they complain about makeup and cum in their hair. He only does girls if he's desperate. And lately, he's been desperate for all the attention he can get. 

Calum's single now, he hasn't got the time for a girlfriend and Michael couldn't be happier about that because he didn't have to watch Calum snuggle up and be cozy with someone that wasn't him. He didn't think he could take it.

Calum and Michael have each other on the nights where they miss home, where they feel all alone. Luke and Ashton have each other. And tonight's one of those nights. They miss home, and Calum's pressed up against Michael, his ear resting against Michael's chest, his heart thudding softly. It lulls Calum to sleep, and Michael just stays in position, even though he can feel Calum drooling on him and his leg's going numb.

He feels like he's found home.

Michael wakes up the next morning to an empty bed, and sheets that are blindingly white. He looks to the bedside table where there's a promise of later, and Michael will take that.

The next night, Michael finds himself in the same position, holding Calum close and he feels like he's happy, sad, and tired all at once. He figures he should tell Calum. 

"Calum? I don't know if you've fallen asleep yet, but I want you to know that I'm in- fuck, I'm so fucking in love with you it hurts and it feels like I've found home when I have you with me and I'm thankful that I threw sand at you, and we've come a long way from the playground. I feel like my arms were made for holding you and I'll never forget the time we kissed on my bed when we were 13, and fuck, you're always on my mind and I'm going to explode if I don't say this." Michael rambles, stopping to catch his breath twice in between.

Calum stays silent and holds onto Michael tighter, and Michael feels the tension in him dissipate. He closes his eyes and falls asleep.

Michael wakes up the next morning to an empty bed, and sheets that are blindingly white. He looks to the bedside table where there's a simple post-it with one word on it. Sorry.

Michael feels his heart breaking, and it's the most he's cried in his life.


End file.
